Company Registration Manual for the Renewable Energy Use Certificate

"Renewable energy use confirmation" is the Korea Energy Agency officially confirming that our company did in fact use renewable energy. When a client asks for evidence that "our suppliers use renewable energy too" for its RE100 and CDP work, that evidence is exactly this registration and these usage records. The procedure runs on the Korea Energy Agency's K-RE100 management system, and even if it looks daunting the first time, the flow is simple.

Why does use confirmation matter?

From a supplier staffer's point of view, the shift to renewable energy usually starts not from our own need but from a client's requirement. The problem is that buying green premium or signing a PPA for renewable energy does not in itself automatically count as "we used renewable energy."

For a supplier's renewable energy use to be recognised in a client's RE100 or CDP disclosure, or in supply chain due diligence, you have to register with the official body and have your usage records confirmed. Registration on the management system and the usage records are precisely that evidence. If you answer only "we have signed a renewable energy contract" without registration and records, you end up in the situation where it is not accepted as supporting evidence at the client's reporting stage and the paperwork is requested all over again.

Three steps from registration to confirmation

STEP 1. Company registration

Log in to the Korea Energy Agency's "K-RE100 management system" (nr.energy.or.kr) with a business joint certificate (personal joint certificates and power generation businesses are not eligible). Under "Company registration" you fill in the application for the representative business entity — entering business details, membership category (large, mid-sized, small and medium enterprise and so on), type of electricity use and customer number, the previous year's electricity consumption (kWh), and contact details. Attach the business registration certificate, proof of your customer number (an electricity bill, for example) and your company logo and submit, and company registration is complete once the administrator approves it. If a corporation has several sites, register the representative business entity first and then add the subsidiary entities and sites.

STEP 2. Register renewable energy usage records

Once registration is done, you register your renewable energy usage records on the management system for each implementation option you chose (green premium, REC purchase, third-party or direct PPA, self-generation). Registered records are totalled and viewed under [Renewable Energy Usage Summary], as consumption and as a share, by year and by option. The evidence required differs from option to option, so having the related paperwork — contracts, purchase records and the like — ready alongside keeps things moving.

STEP 3. Issue the registration certificate, check usage records

Once you are registered as a participating company, you can issue the K-RE100 registration certificate as a PDF from "Company information" in the management system (the issue number changes every time, so issue it once and keep the file to use). Renewable energy usage records are checked under [Usage Summary] above, and you use them as the basis for submissions to clients, for greenhouse gas reduction records and for RE100 compliance. (For the issuing cycle and the detailed procedure of the use certificate itself, please also check the Agency's guidance.)

What to prepare before you start

Where people commonly get stuck

I have no idea which implementation option to start with

The lowest barrier to entry is green premium. Because it has you add an extra cost on top of your KEPCO electricity bill to have renewable energy use recognised, with no separate capital investment and no long-term contract, it is what many suppliers choose when they first start responding to RE100. For details, see the related resources below.

Where do I find my KEPCO customer number?

The customer number is printed on the electricity bill you receive each month (or in the KEPCO Cyber Branch). If you have several sites, you need to check the customer number for each of them.

We signed the contract, so why is it still not recognised?

Even if you have contracted or purchased a renewable energy implementation option, it is recognised as evidence only once the usage records are registered on the management system and reflected there. If you have a client reporting deadline, registration and approval can take time, so it is safer to leave slack in the schedule.

Related resources

• K-RE100: Scheme Overview and Compliance Routes
• Green Premium: How the Bidding and Application Works